Atebubu: Open defecation on the rise due to lack of toilet facility.

Open Defecation has gone up at Atebubu Mempeasem, a suburb of Atebubu of the Bono East Region.

According to some residents in the area who spoke to Soiree News Nana Anfreh Damanata stated that they have been using people's uncompleted buildings as their toilet facilities and others also go to the nearby bushes.

Some also stated that they sometimes have to use polythene bag and throw it away at night.

They are therefore appealing to the authorities to help them by building public toilets for them.
However, in an engagement with the  Assembly Man for Mempeasem electrical  Area, Hon. Atindogo Tahiru stated that he has put in place measures to bring in some private companies to help build toilets at various houses to help reduced open defecation
He called on philanthropists, institutions,s, and organizations to come to their aid whiles stressing that, the situation has been making life unbearable for his residents.
At least, 8% of urban dwellers practiced open defecation in Ghana. According to a survey by Professor Chris Gordon, Director, Institute of Environment and Sanitation, University of Ghana, Legon,  open defecation cost Ghana $79 million per year, whereas it would require less than one million latrines to eliminate the practice.
Open defecation has been a major contributing factor in the increasing rate of epidemic disease outbreaks like cholera.
 This happens when human excreta and urine enters water bodies.
Many scholars and health experts have called for concerted efforts and strong political will to address the problem.
Ghana has been ranked second after Sudan in Africa for open defecation, with 19 percent of its population resorting to the sanitation practice deemed the riskiest of all.
The country has been performing abysmally with sanitation coverage of only 15 percent, making the practice of open defecation a key sanitation challenge because people do not have access to key basic facilities.
The practice does not only cost the country $79million a year but also poses the greatest danger to human health and can have fatal consequences, particularly for the most vulnerable, including young children.